Many AT&T BlackBerry users have been wondering what the delay on the AT&T branded version of the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is seeing how the device has been available on T-Mobile since mid November of last year.  Rumor has it, however, that AT&T may skip over the BlackBerry Bold 9780 and go straight to the, yet to be officially announced, BlackBerry Dakota

Fudzilla is reporting that its sources are stating that AT&T is move the last of it’s BlackBerry Bold 9700 inventory and that it has no intention on ordering more.

The new Bold, or Dakota if you will, is a bit closer than we were first led to believe. Apparently from the whispers we hear, AT&T could have the new member of the Bold family on the shelf for sale as soon as early or mid-spring, but significant quantity is likely not expected at the store and authorized reseller level till very early summer.

If the release scale for the BlackBerry Dakota, the first QWERTY BlackBerry with a fixed touchscreen, is accurate the rumor that AT&T may forgo the BlackBerry 9780 seems very plausible.  This seems to be the route that Verizon took with the BlackBerry Storm 9750, deciding to hold off on  the device possibly for the rumored BlackBerry Monaco.